In 2004, a decision was made that forever affected the red hawk population in Central Park. For just about twenty years, New Yorkers have been watching Pale Male, a red hawk that showed up in 1991 and after being chased out of the park by crows, made his nest on the ledge of a Fifth Avenue Apartment building. In 2004, the spikes along the ledge were removed. The spikes were intended to deter the roosting of pigeons, but they provided a cradle in which the hawk’s nest was anchored to for 15 years. The removal of them, removed the nest. Members of the Audubon Society, including one famous member and building resident, Mary Tyler Moore, protested. The spikes were eventually re-installed but since that time no new hatch lings have hatched.
Previous to the removal of the spikes, Pale Male’s history was documented through those viewing either from the windows of the five star hotels in New York, or those sitting in Central Park every day during spring. And it wasn’t just New Yorkers. For after a while it became an international curiosity as people from all over the world began to schedule vacations and holiday trips to the city for the purpose of bird watching. It never seemed to cease to amaze, that a creature so wild was living in one of the most populated and congested cities in the world. And he seemed to like it there just fine. From his nest that overlooks the Metropolitan Museum, Pale Male has sired over 25 offspring that now live and breed in Central Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.
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